Main content

Michel Piccoli

Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including the BFI season programmer Geoff Andrew and film critic Phuong Le to discuss the varied roles played by the French actor Michel Piccoli.

Le MΓ©pris in 1963 brought fame to Michel Piccoli. Jean-Luc Godard's new wave film was based on an Italian novel about a love triangle and power dynamics involving a playwright asked to work on a film script. Piccoli (1925-2020) went on to work with many other directors, including BuΓ±uel, Chabrol, Varda, Rivette, Demy and Sautet in roles which run from a weak priest to a confused pope, with a host of rebels, cynics, lovers and losers mixed in. Matthew Sweet is joined by Geoff Andrew, Muriel Zagha, Phuong Le and Adam Scovell to look at this remarkable career that spanned seven decades.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Michel Piccoli: A Fearless Talent, is running at BFI Southbank from 1-29 June
You can find a series of discussions about film stars and key films available as Arts & Ideas podcasts and on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds including Marlene Dietrich, Jacques Tati, Audrey Hepburn, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Sidney Poitier, Laurel and Hardy's The Music Box, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.
Each Saturday on Radio 3 Matthew Sweet presents Sound of Cinema looking at film music relating to the week's new film releases - all the episodes are on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Sounds.

Release date:

Available now

45 minutes

Podcast